


Begin Again

by captainamergirl



Category: All My Children, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful
Genre: Alison Ray, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Original Characters - Freeform, just because, multifandom - Freeform, self-indulgent writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Mob princess Alison Ray turned away from her family's business to become a district attorney. She now prosecutes crimes such as those committed by her childhood best friend Johnny Zacchara. Alison loves Johnny, and truly wants to be with him, but lasting happiness always seems to be just out of their reach. Will Johnny and Alison end up together or will she ultimately find love with someone else?A short, multi-soap opera crossover tale featuring my original character.
Relationships: Aidan Devane/Original Character(s), Johnny Zacchara/Original Character(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Steven Webber/Original Character(s), Thomas Forrester/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Damaged

** Damaged **  
  
She watched Johnny under her eyelashes as he walked off with Connie once again. Somehow, she knew this time he wasn’t coming back to her. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest and tears misted her eyes. The one thing she’d sworn never do was cry over Johnny Zacchara again, and there she was, so close to doing just that.  
  
She felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder and she turned around to see Dr. Steven Webber standing behind her. He had made it clear that he was interested in her romantically, but she had always pushed him away; stubbornly clinging to the stupid hope of finally being with her childhood best friend.

_What a fool she was._  
  
Steven pulled her into a hug and she buried her head in his shoulder. “You need a friend right now. That’s all this is about,” Steven promised.  
  
“Thanks, Steve,” Alison murmured into the sleeve of his denim jacket. “At this rate, I am not sure I’ll ever be ready for another relationship. I am way too screwed up; way too damaged.”  
  
“Don’t say that, Alison.”  
  
“It’s true,” Alison said, and then she gave into the tears as Steven's arms tightened about her.


	2. Goodbye, Johnny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one takes place several months down the road...

** Goodbye, Johnny **  
  
She knew the instant he opened the door, that she’d made a huge mistake coming there. He wore a robe; open to reveal black boxers and a bare chest; and she spotted a pair of red high heels tossed haphazardly to the floor, near a matching red, crumpled dress.  
  
“Uh—“ Alison said and immediately started to turn away.  
  
She felt him grab her by the arm. “Hey, no. Don’t go. Obviously you came here for a reason, Ali.”  
  
 _Ali._ Why did he have to say her name that way? In the Johnny Fuck You Good and Hard Zacchara sort of way. It almost weakened her resolve when he added, “Come on, sweetheart, talk to me.”  
  
“I did come here for a reason, but I can see that you’re busy so—“  
  
Johnny followed her eyes to the dress and shoes. He sighed. “You need to let me explain.”  
  
“Explain what?” Alison said, tugging free of his grasp though her whole soul protested at the loss of physical contact. “What you do and who you do it with is absolutely none of my business.” _She would definitely prefer not to know!_  
  
“You picked Steven…”  
  
“Yes, I did. Steven is a really good man.”  
  
Johnny’s eyes went from stormy dark brown to cold, searing black. “So what did you come here for – to throw that guy in my face as usual? You could have saved the trip and just sent an email.”  
  
Alison itched to slap him but reined in the urge. “I just came to … say goodbye.”  
  
“Wait… You going somewhere, Ali?”  
  
“Don’t call me that.”  
  
“That’s your name, you neurotic, bitchy woman.”  
  
She fumed openly. “No, it’s Alison. And yes, I’m going somewhere.”  
  
“Where? And is that doctor of yours going with you?”  
  
“It doesn’t matter.”  
  
“It matters to me. Where are you going?”  
  
“I don’t know, John, okay?! I just know now that I need - need to let go.”  
  
Johnny reached for her again, settling his hands on her slender shoulders and pulling her close. “Alison, you don’t have to let go. Not if you still feel something for me.”  
  
“I don’t.” _Bitterest of all lies._  
  
“Johnny!” A high, nasal voice called from somewhere in the backroom. "Come back to bed!”  
  
Alison swallowed hard. “You’d better go, Johnny. I am going too.”  
  
“I can’t change your mind?”  
  
“No,” Alison said, shaking her head sadly yet firmly. She hadn’t planned to come here and say goodbye. She had planned to come here and be with him in every way two people could be. She had been stupid to actually think they could recapture what they had shared as kids.  
  
“Goodbye, Johnny,” she said. She thought she heard him say, “Bye, baby,” as she turned and walked away, but it was probably just her imagination working over time.  
  
She heard him shut his door. Tears formed in her eyes but she forced one foot forward and walked away from Johnny Zacchara, for what she believed would be the very last time.


	3. Honesty

** Honesty **   
  
After leaving Johnny’s place, she ducked into her car and allowed herself a good cry. She was not one generally given over to tears and yet there they were – fat teardrops rolling down her face, making a big mess of her usually impeccable makeup.   
  
The rain wasn’t letting up and it matched her mood as she started up the town car. Taking one last look up at Johnny’s window, she pulled away from the curb, headed for Steven’s place. When she got there, she struggled out of the car and was drenched in a second as she found her way to his porch.   
  
He opened the door on the second knock and his eyes went wide when he saw her. “Ali, what-?” He broke off. “Never mind. Get in here, honey.”   
  
He grasped her hand and pulled her into his house, immediately throwing an afghan around her shoulders and positioning her in front of the roaring fire. She didn’t deserve this – his love and concern, not when she was still madly in love with someone else. New tears burned her eyes – ones born of guilt and shame.   
  
Steven crouched in front of her, running his warm, calloused fingers through the soaking wet strands of her auburn hair. “What happened? Where have you been?”   
  
Alison’s fingers found the front of his tee-shirt and she held him close for a moment. “Did I ever tell you what a good man you are?”   
  
“Yeah, yeah you have. Probably too many times.” He reached for her hands and turned them over, gently kissing her palms. “You’re a wonderful person yourself, Alison. A person I love madly, you know.”   
  
“I know,” Alison said. That’s what made this so difficult. It was one thing to quietly nurse her own broken heart; it was quite another to inflict a broken heart on someone else – someone as good and kind as Steven Webber. Still, she wasn’t going to use him, string him along; promise him a future she knew that she didn’t believe in anymore. He deserved so much better than that. “I have to be honest with you.”   
  
His eyes clouded noticeably. “Why do have a feeling I won’t like what you’re about to say?”   
  
She sighed. “Steven, I’m leaving town.”   
  
“What – why?” He studied her closely as her eyes shifted away. “Oh no. It’s him, isn’t it? It’s Johnny Zacchara.”   
  
She forced her eyes back to his. “Steve-“   
  
“He still gets to you,” Steven said. He moved away from her and began to pace. “But I don’t get it. If you two are going to fall into some grand love affair, why leave town now?”   
  
“We’re not going to fall into anything,” Alison said. “Not even close. We can never have that, never again.”   
  
“So you’re running away then.” It wasn’t a question.   
  
Alison wanted to say “no”. Instead she just shrugged. “It’s something I need to do… I’m just so sorry that I am hurting you like this.”   
  
“Yeah me too.”   
  
Alison looked down at her engagement ring. The diamond glistened up at her almost mockingly. She slowly eased it off her finger and held it out to Steven. “This is yours.”   
  
“No, no. You keep it.”   
  
“I can’t. It’s Audrey’s ring and I want – I want you to give it to someone else.”   
  
“No…”   
  
_“Yes._ Give it to someone who will be proud to wear it. Someone who deserves it.” She proffered the gold band to him again. "Take it. Please. I wouldn’t feel right about keeping your family heirloom for myself.”   
  
Steven sighed. “Are you sure you want to go?”   
  
“I have to,” Alison said. “I’m sorry.”   
  
Steven took the ring. “Me too.” He watched her move to the door. “Be safe, Alison Ray.”   
  
“I will be,” Alison promised. “You take care, Steven. For the record, you truly were my favorite part of Port Charles.”   
  
She pulled the blanket off her shoulders, laying it gingerly on a table in the entryway and then she walked out. She knew instinctively it would be a long time before she saw Steven Webber again, if she ever did.


	4. Stranded

** Stranded **   
  
It didn’t take long to realize it -   
  
_“I’m stranded!”_ she moaned as she kicked the already flat rear tire on her town car. Rain poured down around her as kicked the tire again and cursed.    
  
She hurried back for her car. No matter how many calls she tried to put into AAA, they did not go through because her damn cell phone wasn’t getting any reception out here in the boondocks.   
  
Alison sequestered herself in her car on the side of the dark road and shivered in her thin jacket. She was drenched. Her hair was matted to her head like a dead animal and she no doubt looked a fright. Not that she cared. All she cared about was getting out of here. Wherever here was.   
  
“As soon as the rain lets up, I’ll change the tire myself,” she told herself. So what if she’d never changed a tire? She’d survived a gunshot wound at seventeen; losing her parents tragically in her early twenties, and now was still somehow standing after having her heart shattered. So yeah, she could fix a damn tire. No doubt. And if not, she would just walk to the nearest town. One couldn’t be too far away … could it?   
  
All Alison had wanted was to put distance between herself and The One Who Shall Not Be Thought Of Nor Named and somehow that had gotten messed up just like everything else.   
  
The rain hammered on the roof of the town car for a good twenty minutes and then finally, mercifully, stopped. She kicked open the door and fishing around in her purse for her pocket flashlight, she popped the trunk.   
  
She managed to drag the heavy tire out but dropped it in the mud and she got splattered. Still, she could handle this.   
  
“I can’t do this!” She said several minutes later as the jack gave way and the car nearly crashed down atop her. She jumped away in time and ended up ass-deep in the mud.   
  
She just sat there with pathetic, shameful tears rolling down her face. She was still crying pitifully when two headlights appeared in the distance. It took her awhile to find her bearings and she started to struggle to her feet.   
  
“Here, let me help you, Miss,” a decidedly accented voice said as her heels made her sink deeper into the mud and she weaved on her feet, nearly falling forward.   
  
“No!” she said as a man stepped into the light. He had a thoughtful expression on his face and he was very handsome but then again, Ted Bundy hadn’t been ugly either…   
  
“Are you quite sure?”   
  
“Quite,” Alison said. “I can handle this so if you just get back in your car-“ She wobbled again as she sank deeper and kicked to get free. She started flying forward but was caught in time by the mysterious stranger. He hauled her easily upright and set her by her car. She lost both of her high heels in the process but at least she wasn’t sinking into the ground anymore.   
  
“Uh, thanks,” she said.   
  
“You’re welcome,” the man said. “Looks like your tire is done-for, eh?”   
  
“Yes it is,” Alison said. “But I can handle it. So if you just-“   
  
“Let me help you.”   
  
“Oh I appreciate that but-“ She broke off as he was already walking back to his car, popping the trunk. Shit, was he getting a knife? She started to run for her car but stopped when she saw he had some kind of tool box in his hand.   
  
“Are you a mechanic or something?” She asked, dancing on the balls of her feet as he walked around her and bent down to get to work.   
  
He looked up at her in the gleam of the headlights. “Something like that,” he said. “Just give me five minutes and you’ll be good to go.”   
  
Alison was still nervous but agreed, watching quietly as he worked on her car.   
  
Sure enough, as promised, in five minutes, he had completed the work. He wiped his mud-caked hands on the sides of his fitted denim jeans. “Done,” he announced.   
  
“Thank you, thank you,” Alison said. “I really appreciate this. How much do I owe you?”   
  
He arched an eyebrow. “Don’t insult me.”   
  
“I get it. You want to be a Good Samaritan but-“   
  
He sniffed. “I could never be accused of being anything close to that.”   
  
“But you helped me and you don’t even know me.”   
  
“Well I never could resist a pretty woman flailing about in the mud,” he said and she blushed in spite of herself.   
  
“Thanks for that then,” Alison said. She held out her hand to him. “Thank you – uh –“   
  
“Aidan.”   
  
“Aidan,” Alison said. “Thank you, Aidan. I’ll ... just be going now.”   
  
She dashed to her car on bare feet and started to hop inside. She then thought better of it and turned back. “Aidan?” She called.   
  
“Yes, Princess?” She heard a smirk in his words.   
  
“Princess?” She echoed, then shrugged. “Hey, I’ll take it over damsel in distress.”   
  
He laughed. “What can I help you with?”   
  
“Can you tell me where I am and maybe give me directions to the nearest motel?”   
  
“You’re on the outskirts of Pine Valley, Pennsylvania,” Aidan said. “And about a mile down this road is a place called The Pine Cone. It’s a junk motel but I figure they always have openings there and something tells me you don’t plan on sticking around long anyway.”   
  
“No, no, I don’t,” Alison said. “So … thanks again.”   
  
She then ducked into the car and shut the door, revving the engine, and pulling off into the dark night, the handsome stranger getting smaller and smaller in her rearview mirror.


	5. Jack of All Trades

**Jack of All Trades**  
  
Alison found The Pine Cone fairly easily. After checking in at the front desk and receiving at least a dozen cursory looks from people hanging around the entrance to the place, she was presented with a room key (room 145) and hustled out by the very large owner who apparently just had to get back to watching reruns of Sanford and Sons.  
  
Alison was exhausted by the time she reached her room and threw back the deadbolt. All she wanted to do was climb into bed and forget this whole day but she was covered head to toe in caked mud and it was starting to make her skin itch.  
  
She had a small carry-on-sized suitcase with her and set a little nightgown out on the bed. She then stripped off her destroyed clothes and set them in the bathroom sink. Finally, she climbed into the shower. It was a really, really cold shower. Fitting somehow.  
  
She scrubbed down with a fuzzy washcloth and then climbed out of the bathtub. She looked herself over in the mirror. She looked the way she felt - like hell. She was unnaturally pale and there were dark circles under her eyes.  
  
Drying off as quickly as she could, she climbed into her nightgown and underneath the covers. She was asleep within minutes, the kind of sleep that was so deep that she wouldn’t even dream.  
  
Come morning, she was awakened by the sound of loud pounding on her door. “What the -?” She shot up in bed, blinking furiously at the bright sunlight filtering through the blinds.  
  
The knocking continued and she hugged her nightgown around her. “Who is it?” She asked.  
  
“Your friendly neighborhood plumber,” a decidedly accented and decidedly familiar voice answered.  
  
She rolled her eyes. “More like my friendly neighborhood stalker,” she muttered. Louder she said, "What do you want?”  
  
“Please just open the door,” he said. She knew that it was Aidan from the night before. She had half a mind to curse him out but remembered how nice he had been to her. The least she could do was hear him out.  
  
She kicked off the covers and yanked on a tee-shirt that was far less revealing than her nightie. She walked to the door and pulled it open. She started to speak but stopped when she saw that Aidan had a toolbox in hand, a plunger in the other.  
  
“You weren’t kidding,” she said in surprise.  
  
“No,” Aidan said with a cheeky smile. “The toilet in room next to yours overflowed and is flooding everything. I figure you’ve been affected by it too.” He smiled wider. “But wait you thought -” He shook his head. “Oh, Princess, I would be a lot smoother than that.”  
  
She felt her face heat with color. “Just hurry,” she said, ushering him inside. She followed him to the bathroom where sure enough everything was soaked - from the tiny bath mat to her shoes. They were never going to get dry at this rate.  
  
She couldn’t help but notice the way his sinewy muscles flexed as he worked - she would have to have been blind not to notice.  
  
She forced her eyes to look away. "You didn’t tell me that you worked here.”  
  
“You didn’t ask.”  
  
“When you suggested the place…” She crossed her arms. “Never mind. You can change tires and fix leaks. What else can you do?”  
  
He chuckled. “Oh so many things. I’m a bit of a Jack of all trades, I suppose you’d say.”  
  
“I am starting to figure that out.”  
  
“Are you heading out of town today?”  
  
“Aren’t you snoopy?”  
  
“I used to be a private investigator. Old habits die hard.”  
  
“Of course you were a P.I.,” she said. “Is there any chance you were also a barista in the past too? I am in desperate need of a good cup of coffee.”  
  
Aidan smirked. “No, but there’s this new little cafe in town called Higher Grounds. I could take you there myself.”  
  
Alison blushed a little. “So you’re a tourguide now too?”  
  
“I dabble in a little bit of everything.”  
  
“Right. You’re a Jack of all trades. I get it.”  
  
Aidan finished what he was doing and washed his hands in the sink. “So shall we go together?” He asked.  
  
Alison considered saying “no” but then reasoned that she couldn’t considering how kind he had been to her. The least she could do was have coffee with him.  
  
She nodded. “Fine, but I’m buying.”  
  
“That isn’t nec-”  
  
“It is,” Alison said. “I owe you one... or five.”  
  
Aidan slowly nodded. “If you’re sure.” Aidan edged past her and headed for the door. “Meet you back here in five minutes?” He asked.  
  
“Sure,” Alison said. She showed him out and closed the door. She leaned against the frame for a long moment. Was she stupid to have coffee with a too-gorgeous man when she was feeling this raw?  
  
She shook her head. No, nothing was going to happen between them anyway. She’d just chug down a cappuccino, make polite conversation, and then she could leave this place behind. She figured that there was somewhere out there in the world she needed to be, but it certainly wasn’t here.


	6. Coffee and Confrontations

**Coffee and Confrontations**  
  
“Don’t look now but she’s staring at you again,” Alison said as she took a sip of her extra foamy cappuccino. There had to be about a thousand calories in this thing and yet she didn’t care. It was just what she had been craving. She watched Aidan over the rim of her cup. He sighed and shrugged.  
  
“I don’t think she’s staring so much as shooting eye daggers at my back,” Aidan said. He twisted a napkin up in his fingers and shot it basketball-style towards a nearby trash can. It landed neatly inside.  
  
“I’d say that was worth at least three points,” Alison said. She picked at her cream cheese muffin, trying to appear nonchalant. “So what’s the deal with you two anyway? You and Miss Curls.”  
  
“You mean Kendall,” Aidan said. He shook his head. "It's a long, long story.”  
  
“I take it you two used to be an item.”  
  
Aidan grimaced. “I guess you could say that. We were … together, you know, but I don’t think she ever really loved me the way I wished she would have.”  
  
Alison nodded, seeing the pain in his eyes. She offered a sigh of her own. “I can relate. J-” She started to say _His_ name but she didn't dare. She wouldn’t let herself think about _Him_ at all. He was back in Port Charles. He was her past. She'd put him in her rear view mirror. She had to forget him, for her own sanity’s sake.  
  
“Well, sometimes,” Alison concluded, “you can love someone and they can’t love you back or at least, they don’t know how to communicate how they feel.”  
  
“You speak from experience, I take it.”  
  
Alison was the one to offer a shrug now. “I suppose you could say that.”  
  
“Tell me about him.”  
  
“Will you tell me about Kendall first?”  
  
“You mean share and share alike?"  
  
“Well... I guess it can’t hurt, can it? I’ll be moving on soon and we’ll never see each other again so-”  
  
Aidan’s eyes met hers in an intense gaze. “Never, Princess? That’s a really long time.”  
  
Alison offered him a weak smile. “Well, what are the chances that we’ll see each other again, honestly? I’m heading out to California most likely and you’re living in Pennsylvania rescuing helpless damsels in distress….”  
  
“Maybe someday I’ll show up in California, surprise ya…”  
  
“Hmmmm….”  
  
“You wouldn’t like that? I could cook you dinner. I make a mean veal roast blanquette.”  
  
Alison’s lips twitched. “Oh, of course you do. There’s nothing you can’t do, apparently, Mr. Jack of all trades.”  
  
Aidan smiled but the light didn’t quite reach his eyes. Not like it had before the woman he called Kendall walked into the coffee bar. Before they had been talking and laughing, almost like old friends, and now he was being cagey and downright distant. He was shutting her out, though she wasn’t sure he realized he was doing that. She also didn't know why she cared so much either. After all, they barely knew each other.  
  
“Yeah,” Aidan murmured, taking a slow sip of his black coffee. Cream, two sugars.  
  
Alison took another gulp of her own drink. SIlence fell between them for a long, awkward moment. She finally set down her cup. "Anyway, Aidan, I should get going. I do want to thank you for all you’ve done for me but I should get on the road.”  
  
“So soon?”  
  
“Yeah. I think it’s for the best.” Alison stood and tossed her paper cup into the trash can. She dabbed at her lips with a napkin and disposed of that too, along with what remained of her muffin. “Thanks again.”  
  
“Anytime, Princess,” he said quietly. “I was glad I could help somehow.”  
  
“Me too,” she murmured. She waved to him and headed for the door of the loud, bustling place. She just needed to stop back at the motel, pack up what little she had brought with her, pay for her room, and be on the road.  
  
She looked back just for a second though -- just long enough to see the woman called Kendall stalk over to Aidan’s table. Her pretty face was twisted in an expression of disgust and she started to quietly berate Aidan, stabbing an accusatory finger towards his chest.  
  
Alison hurried out the door. She didn’t want to know what that was all about. It wasn’t her business... Truthfully, she was probably better off not knowing anyway.


End file.
